What it's like being raised without English in Aotearoa

Friday, 7 September 2018

Tupoutama grew up speaking te reo Māori only until he was a teenager. Then he had to learn English and how to deal with society at large. He traveled to England where he was able to carve out a living still using the Māori language.

This article is translated into two languages as part of Māori Language Week. Read the te reo Māori version, or read the English version.

OPINION: Pāpā 'Hi Monoa how are you?'

Monoa: 'Very goot'

E toru ngā tau o taku tama a Monoa, ā, kei te ako ia ki te reo Pākehā. Heoi anō kei a ia mo tākirikiri i te tiaretanga o te ngākau Māori i tōna matatau ki te tārei i ngā kupu e hāngai ana ki te te ōrokohanganga o Uenuku, ā, ki te take e kāpō ana a Tāwhirimātea.

**READ MORE:

* Te reo Māori makes us unique

* What's the point in learning te reo, a language spoken only in New Zealand?

* The borrowers: Why you are speaking more Māori than you think**

Tupoutama Paki grew up speaking te reo Māori only until he was a teenager.

Read the English version of this article below.

I te wā e toru ōku tau, kāore hoki ahau i mōhio ki te reo Pākehā. I pakeke ahau i te aroaro o te atāmira i te whakaaweawetanga o ōku mātua i a Aotearoa i tētahi whakaari e kiīa nei ko Ahorangi Genesis. He whakaari tēnei i whakaoho i te Māori ki tōnā ao Māori i te wā o te korekore.

I te wā e toru tau te pakeke o tōku matua, he kuare ia ki te reo Māori. Ka pakeke mai tōku Pāpā, nāwai rā ka tūtaki ia ki tōku Māmā. Ka whānau mai a rāua uri ana ka tīmata tā rāua whakamāori i to mātou ao.

He tokoiwa mātou o tōku whānau ana ko au te tuaono. Tokoono ngā tama, tokotoru ngā uwha.

I kuraina mātou i te kāinga, ka mutu he kāinga kōrero Māori anake. He whakaari ki ngā kura o Aotearoa tā mātou mahi. I kawea e mātou ngā mātāpono Māori, ngā pūrakau Māori anō hoki ki ngā reanga maha o ngā hapori maha o Aotearoa. Me pēnei pea te kōrero, i pakeke mai ahau i te aroaro o te atamira.

He kāinga kōrero reo Māori anake tō mātou kāinga.

He reo Pākehā te reo matua i kōrerohia e Aotearoa whānui ana ko te whakapae o tōku whānaau a tōnā wā ka mōhiotia e mātou tēnei reo i tōna kaha rangona hēoi anō kāore i te pērā mo tēnei reo kāmehameha ko te Reo Māori.

Ka hoki ōku mahara ki te wā he tamaiti ahau, ana ko taku kaingākau ko te hāere ki te hokomaha ki te hoko rare, ā, i reirā ka rongo au i te hiahia ki te ako i te reo Pākehā i te mea kāore i ea taku tohutohu a matimati nei, ana te tūngoungou o tōku māhunga i te kōrero mai o te kaitiaki toa.

Nā ngā kiriata a Disney ka mutu nā tētahi kaiako reo Pākehā ahau i whakangungu ki te kōrero i te reo o tauiwi.

Tōrekereke taku waia ki tēnei reo o tauiwi hēoi i mau tonu i ahau.

Tupoutama Paki with his whānau. All were brought up in a te reo Māori-speaking home.

Nāwai rā, ka wehe au i te āhurumōwai i hāngaia e tōku whānau. Ka kītea e au te rerekē o tēnei ao hurihuri ki tāku i mōhio, ka mutu ki tāku i pakeke mai ai. I whai mahi ahau i runga i taku matatau ki tōku ao Māori, reo Māori anō hoki, waihoki me uaua ka kitea he pūkenga kawe kōrero reo Māori i te ao pāpāho i aua wā.

He kaikawe kōrero ahau mo te hōtaka o Tikitiki (Reo Tataki), ka pahemo ngā tau ka whakawhiwhia au ki tētahi tūranga i Whakaata Māori i te hōtaka rangatahi o Autaia, ā, i te hōtaka o Haa anō hoki. Nā tōku ao Māori ahau i whakakorowai i ngā tau.

I te tau 2010, i huri kōpipio a Te Mātāwai i te motu. Ka tatū mai te paepae motuhake ki roto o mātou o Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki tōku marae Tūrangitukua. I tēnei hui reo, i horokūkū tōku manawa i taku kite atu i a Raiha Johns.

I hāere tahi mai a Raiha Johns me tōnā kuia a Hera Johns ki te whakatakoto i ngā rangahau o to rātou hapū o Tūtemohuta. I a ia e kōrero ana ka warea ōku whakaaro i tōnā ataahua, i tōnā mātua mōhio ki tōnā ao Māori ki tōnā tuakiritanga. He aroha e pupū ake ana, he nui taku whakapono ko ia taku makau a tōna wā.

Ka honoa e māua te hononga urutapu ana ka taumautia. Māua tahi i pakeke mai i te ao Māori i hangāia e o māua mātua hei ōranga mō te anamata o te reo Māori, ka mutu te ao Māori. Me pono aku kōrero, i poho kererū ahau i te ataahua o taku makau, o roto o waho hoki.

I te tau 2013, i whati atu māua ki tāwāhi kia rongo ai i ngā reka o tēnei ao whānui. He tūeke kotahi, he pukauruwhenua, he wawata nui kia kītea ngā āhuatanga maha o te ao. Ko tā māua pōhēhē anō hoki ka noho pōhara māua i tāwāhi, i Rānana….. tērā pōhēhē tērā!

Ka manaakitia māua e tēnei ao e kiīa nei e tātou ko te ao Māori, ahakoa tā māua tawhiti. Ka hono atu māua ki te rōpū o Manaia ana ka Kapa Haka ki ngā whenua maha o Uropi. Ka whakaako māua i te reo māori ki te kaikōmihana o Piritana Nui, ā, ka whakawhiwhia māua ki te tūranga karere mo Whakaata Māori.

Tupoutama Paki and his wife Raiha Paki both grew up in te Ao Māori and are bringing up their son, Monoa Paki, three, to speak te reo too.

I te tau 2015, i whānau mai tā māua ko Raiha tama ki Aotearoa. Ahakoa te hāneanea o te noho i Aotearoa, ka rongo mātou i te aukume o tā-wāhi, ā, ka hoki tika atu mātou ki Uropi, ki Tiamani. I kōrerotia e mātou te reo Māori, e tipu ai te reo o tā māua tama, ao noa pō noa.

Kāore tētahi i titiro mākutu mai kia mātou, kāore tētahi i whakahē i to mātou kōrero i te reo Māori i te mea he āhuatanga o ia rā te rango i ngā reo maha o te ao i Tiamani. He mea rerekē te korenga o te tangata e kōrero i tōna reo ūkaipō.

E whakapae ana au i tino titia te reo Tiamana ki te whatumanawa o taku tama a Monoa. Ko te āhua o tana whakahua i te kupu Pākehā 'good', he rite ki te whakahuatanga o te 'gut' (whakahuatanga 'goot') i te reo Tiamana.

Mei kore ko te reo Māori, kua kore ahau e whai whēako i tēnei ao. Ko te reo Māori te reo e kawe nei i ōku hakaaro, i tōku tirohanga, ā, kāore he reo i tua atu i tōku reo hei whakakōrero i tōku tirohanga Māori.

'He ika nō tōna wai.' He ika i whānau mai i ōna wai he ika matatau ki tōna ao.

OPINION: Pāpā: 'Hi Monoa, how are you?'

Monoa: 'Very goot'.

My three-year-old son, Monoa, is learning English. But in Māori, he eloquently describes how 'goot' he is, how he loves rainbows and how Tāwhirimātea came to be blind

When my father was three, he didn't speak Māori. Later, upon meeting my mother, they embarked on a journey of reclaiming te ao Māori for us, their tamariki.

When I was three, I travelled around with my whānau, performing in a Māori production. I didn't speak a word of English then.

Monoa Paki, aged three, is learning English but also speaks te reo Māori.

There are nine of us in the Paki clan. We were home-schooled on the road, performing Māori performing arts to schools throughout Aotearoa. The production, Ahorangi Genesis, told Māori stories about deities like Uenuku, our rainbow deity, and Tāwhirimātea, deity of the wind and elements.

The house I grow up in was strictly a Māori speaking home. Everyone spoke English in Aotearoa - because of that I was told it was inevitable we would learn English eventually. However it wasn't the same for te reo Māori.

I remember going to the local diary as a young child, feeling and thinking I needed to learn English so I can buy candy - pointing and nodding my head when the shop keeper spoke to me didn't cut it anymore.

Eventually, and with the help of Disney cartoons, music, other kids and a tutor, I learnt. I was seven when I started understanding English and 13 when I spoke confidently.

When I left home, I found myself in a world that was vastly different to my own.

Fortunately, work was easy to come by in an industry that was crying out for Māori-speaking presenters. I presented a show called Tikitiki (TV1) and went onto presenting Autaia and Haa (MTS), my values, culture and language proving valuable in every sense of the word.

In 2010, Te Mātāwai, a government panel, came to Ngāti Tūwharetoa to ask about our language revitalisation initiatives. Just as the hui begins, in walks the most beautiful Māori woman with her kuia, to speak on behalf of her hapū. That woman is now my wife. I have never had to explain my world to her, she just gets it, as she too was raised in Te Ao Māori.

In 2013, we went to London with a backpack and dreams of exploration. Lo and behold, it was our language and culture that kept us alive. We were Māori performing artists, reo tutors to the British High Commissioner, and correspondents for Māori Television in Europe.

Our son Monoa was born in Aotearoa in 2015, but we were back on a plane to Europe soon after. In Germany, no-one batted an eye at us speaking Māori to each other, because being raised in one's mother-tongue is completely normal there.

I believe my language is the most accurate and natural articulation of my Māori worldview. It's this worldview that I will pass onto my tamariki and mokopuna, thus te reo Māori is a natural part of that transmission.

'He ika nō tōna wai.' A fish born into its waters, its language, values and culture is innate because that's the world it's born into.

Tupoutama Paki from Waikato Tainui Ngāti Tūwharetoa is a director, presenter and passionate te reo Māori advocate, ko te poipoi i tana tama ki tōna ao māori tana kaingākau. Read the te reo Māori version of this article above.